AOL Broadband www.aol.com Review

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AOL Broadband www.aol.com
★☆☆☆☆
1.2
11.0% of users recommend this
  • Reliability

  • Customer Service

  • Speed Consistency

  • Value For Money

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JamesG830's review of AOL Broadband www.aol.com

“AOL is one of the biggest - if not- currently the...”

☆☆☆☆☆

written by JamesG830 on 30/01/2007

Good Points
Good Home Page
Free broadband modem
Good web site/email box/Toolbar
Free connection and software Unlimited downloads
Good connection speed

Bad Points
Poor quality software
Internet constantly freezing
Won't cancel subscriptions
AOL software poor and does tend to use a lot of system power
Exaggerate censorship on their message boarders

General Comments
AOL is one of the biggest - if not- currently the biggest Internet service provider in the world. How do they manage to do it? The answer is simple: Marketing.

AOL knows how to attract customers by constantly AOL mailing free CD's to people's homes where they offer free Internet trial. When it comes about the good points, the AOL's Home Page is exceptional.

Everything is on the same page: email box, news, Instant messenger, free pop-up blocker, a very good Tool for easy access to web sites etc.

AOL's search engine is powered by Goggle, which is known as one of the best search engines - but on the other hand you can always just use google!



The email box is very good, if e.g. you want to report junk mail, then there's a button below which says 'Report Spam', just click on it and vollay - the junk mail has disappeared and being forwarded to a junk mail office that prevent the spam sender to continue to send you the ever-annoying junk mail.



AOL also provides free Pop-up blocker, chat rooms, chat message rooms, private conference rooms and a handy photo uploader, the speed is satisfying.

My partner and I originally signed up for AOL few years ago for dial-up connection, no complaints about that here. Around 2003 we upgraded to broadband. AOL provide a Voyager 105 modem, free of charge if you sign up for one year.

The AOL software takes up a lot of space (30 MB RAM!), eats up the hardware of you PC and slows it down. AOL's software was 'honored' as the worst software ever by the respected PC magazine PC World



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL#PC_World_ranking



http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,125772-page,2/article.html



The quality of the 'Reliable, always-on connection Voyager 105' modem is also very poor, I cannot count the times when I tried to go online when the screen appeared 'AOL is not responding'.

I probably did talk more often to their Technical Help Support Line than to my family members!

The Indian based Technical support staff speak very poor English, however are friendly and helpful, as I'm a patient man that does value politeness above poor communication skills, I didn't bother too much, however, I cannot speak up for what others that are less patient would say.



What is less acceptable is that they do charge extra cost for calling up their Technical Help Line and you often have to wait on the phone for ages to get help. There are also complaints from deaf people that have to use Typetalk) that phoning them is a nightmare.

One thing did also surprise me; once I couldn't connect to the Internet for more than a day. When I called up their Technical Help Line, they blamed the BT and claimed that the 'BT telephone line was down' but when I phoned up BT (I had no problems phoning them?), the BT staff explained to me that this wasn't true and that AOL does know very well that broadband has nothing to do with telephone line.

When I phoned AOL Help Line again, they admitted that this was true. In other words, I had being lied to.

AOL does also charge 'hidden charges' every time you go online with broadband and for each email that you do send. There have also been countless complaints from customers that AOL doesn't send their 'Reliable, always-on connection Voyager 105' replacement modem when the customers ask for it.

My partner did once sign up for another Internet service but did the mistake to simply forget to inform AOL for one year. When I noticed her mistake, I called up the AOL but there was no sympathy there.

They didn't offer to refund a penny or give us free subscription or anything like that. I would have expected more sympathy than that. You could say that the main blame is on my partner as she forgot to inform them.

However - and here I come to the main point; if you are an subscriber or will ever subscribe to AOL, wait until you try to leave AOL and see what fun you have.

If you want to cancel online you will have to spend long to see a site or a link that provides that option; it doesn't exist. And if you want to email any enquiry's, no matter if it is canceling, requests for technical help, complaint etc. just don't bother - they never answer emails.

AOL is notorious for dishonestly continuing to charge people that want to cancel AOL's and if you don't believe me - be my guest and take a look on other comments on this site or why not take a look at those links:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmpDSBAh6RY&mode=related&search=



http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_cancel_my_america_online_aol_account.html



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13447232/#storyContinued



http://media.putfile.com/AOL-Cancellation



http://www.slobokan.com/archives/2006/06/13/vinny-cancels-his-aol-account/



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL#Billing_disputes



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL#Account_cancellation



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL#PC_World_ranking



What I do consider the most disgusting thing about AOL is their unfair censorship on their message borders. I used to publish posters there and soon went popular for my articles.

However, AOL censor(ed) interesting posters while they do let bigots that poke insults at others be left alone so my friends that used to publish interesting posters have left the AOL message borders in disgust thanks to this. This is simply not fair.

I'm currently writing a book but AOL eventually disconnected me. AOL once gave me a warning me for telling my political views despite it didn't contain any swear words. They eventually disconnected me - when I once replied to a bigot that had insulted me and wouldn't leave my IM/email box alone - in a manner that I shouldn't have.

I wrote a long letter to AOL where I told the other side of the story. There are certain bigots that BOAST on the message borders about how they insult others with name calling and swear words without ever even have their posters removed.

The insulted me with name calling and swear words for no reason at all and continued to harass my IM/email box, even ages after they chased me away from the message borders and wouldn't leave me alone despite I asked politely to be left alone.

Thanks to AOL's disconnection, I lost several months of hard work linked with my book writing, permission from other authors to refer to their articles etc.

I told AOL that if they think it's all right with them to warn or even ban people for telling your political views without using one single swear word while they allow bigots to insult others with name calling and swear words and harass your email box with unwanted debates and insults - then something is seriously wrong.

AOL never replied.

A Internet Company that blame others for their own technical faults, use dishonest ways to take your money and doesn't value to respect the freedom of speech - while at the same time do let bigots get away with harass innocent people - is simply not even worth considering.

I have used SKY, BT and Tiscalis and I guarantee that they are a much better alternative. When I e.g. did cancel my BT Internet subscription, they told me politely that they would cancel my subscription the same day and not charge me one day more - and kept their words (no, I do neither work for or know anyone with BT).

How I wised that I would have stayed with BT instead!

AOL is a big mean machine, which has forgotten about basic customer's rights. But the day will come that David will hit against Goliath and I am one amongst them. Dishonesty doesn't pay. As the old saying goes, the bigger they are - the harder they fall.

If you don't use AOL and are looking for an honest Internet service provider that doesn't give you a hard time to cancel your account or sort out other problems or support the freedom of speech - look elsewhere.

But if you do use AOL, cancel your account, talk to your bank and let them block AOL from taking your money, pack down - and move!

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Helen Of Troy's Response to JamesG830's Review

Written on: 31/01/2007

Excellent review. I always thought I may have been better going on AOL, obviously not by the sounds of it!

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Jamesg830's Response to JamesG830's Review

Written on: 21/08/2007

Thank you for the information Kyiwhite.
<br/>Yes, you're right about that switching to an Ethernet ADSL modem or an ADSL router does solve many problems, I simply didn't know that at the time I wrote the review.
<br/>Actually AOL never informed us about the new contract but never mind. However, it still doesn't change my mind about that I wouldn't recommend AOL to anyone but there are worst things in life than that.
<br/>Thank you for your informed reply.
<br/>
<br/>James

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Jamesg830's Response to JamesG830's Review

Written on: 02/03/2007

Yes Micky.
<br/>
<br/>I meant to say that in general people are much more inclined to compose a complaint rather than give a compliment. I have to admit that I have judged SKY too hard.
<br/>I mistakenly thought that we were paying £20 – 29 p.m. for the SKY TV but actually we are only paying £15 p.m. so getting free Internet on top of several dozen TV stations is really as good as it gets!
<br/>We&#039;ve been using Sky for several months now and have always been able to go online, send emails etc and not experienced any other problems whatsoever (we only experienced problems with their email server for the first days).
<br/>There are only two bad things; SKY’s Home web site isn’t anything special but that&#039;s not too relevant and the Word Formatting in SKY’s email is bad but I avoid this simply by using free AOL email (you can sign up for AOL email for free – no obligations).
<br/>It was probably our own fault when the SKY modem did broke down for the first days as we did constantly change modem cables, which is not advisable. I do not know if you are convinced now but at least we ourselves are happy with having SKY TV and Internet that has not let us down so far - both for a very cheap price.

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Jamesg830's Response to JamesG830's Review

Written on: 02/02/2007

My partner used AOL dial-up from 2001, we moved 2002 and signed for an another Internet service. My partner mistakenly forgot to cancel her AOL subscription, so AOL charged us for more than a year and renewed the 12 month contract.
<br/>
<br/>As we were using a dialup modem, we could easily prove that we hadn’t used their dialup service one single time, both by providing telephone bills, and as we lived in a different area, and therefore used a different phone (number).
<br/>
<br/>However, when we called up the AOL, they showed no sympathy whatsoever. They refused to refund a penny back. They wouldn’t offer us a discount, and they refused to terminate the renewed 12 month contract nor give us any other alternative.
<br/>
<br/>I can honestly tell you that I have never heard about any Internet company that has showed such little sympathy.
<br/>
<br/>Regarding your claim that I pointed out many positives... Their web site is good, as is their email as well – but that’s about it.
<br/>It’s good that they do provide a free modem. However, it simply is worth nothing when it's rubbish. That you admit. Thanks to their ‘great’ AOL software and modem, I had to call up their Technical Help Line countless times (and often wait for ages), where they charge extra costs on top of having to pay ordinary telephone rates, so our telephone bills run up sky-high.
<br/>Also, peoples time is money, when people want to go online, - they want to go online but not spend ages on endless calls to speak to Technical helpers that can hardly speak English.
<br/>
<br/>AOL claim that their Voyager 105 modem is ‘reliable and always on connection’. It sounds rather obvious that AOL’s ‘great offer’ to provide a ‘free’ modem (it is not free to call up their Technical help lines countless times) is to get people to buy their service.
<br/>
<br/>Most of us want to receive a modem and an installation CD, install the Internet Software, connect the modem and then go online - without needing to be PC guru's - that you obviously expect from people.
<br/>
<br/>It’s the responsibility of every Internet company to provide a reliable modem and software, that AOL fail to do – on top of many other unacceptable things. With regards to AOL’s software and modem, it would be more suitable to call AOL ‘Always Off Line’.
<br/>
<br/>The negatives of AOL do indeed outweigh the positives.
<br/>So much for the good points of AOL.

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Kiyawhite's Response to JamesG830's Review

Written on: 01/02/2007

You do not even have to install the AOL software, or maybe even any drivers to get online with AOL - you do this by switching to an Ethernet ADSL modem or an ADSL router. Both of which are reasonably cheap. Only people who don't care about HDD space or the reliability of their connection stick with the BT Voyager 105 modem. What's more is that, if you signed up in 2003, why didn't you sign up to one of the new contracts of 2006 and get a free Netgear DG834G router, which would solve all of your worries?
<br/>
<br/>Secondly, you listed many positives in your review. I think if you consider how the negatives can be corrected and then compare with the amount of valueful positives, it would be absurd to claim that AOL is outweighed by negatives when it comes to its features!

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252776_Anonymous101's Response to JamesG830's Review

Written on: 31/01/2007

I take your point that in general people are much more inclined to compose a complaint rather than document a compliment when service exceeds their expectations. As an existing SKY World customer I will endeavour to further investigate their Broadband service. Hope you got your technical difficulties sorted out with a minimal amount of fuss by the way !!

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Jamesg830's Response to JamesG830's Review

Written on: 31/01/2007

A lot of Broadband supliers have such low scores on the Reviewcentre, I think these companies need to take a good look at the poor quality of service they are providing the general public with. Good review!
<br/>
<br/>Hi Micky.
<br/>The problem about people is that they do more often than not complain.
<br/>I think that when our SKY modem broke down was something that rarely happens, their email server is not too good but we always get online and can - at the very worst - use different email accounts like hotmail, yahoo etc.
<br/>and getting free SKY Internet if you do already have their SKY TV isn&#039;t bad.
<br/>But rest assured that AOL is not a wise choice.

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252776_Anonymous101's Response to JamesG830's Review

Written on: 31/01/2007

A lot of Broadband supliers have such low scores on the Reviewcentre, I think these companies need to take a good look at the poor quality of service they are providing the general public with. Good review!

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